The Zoo Was A Zoo

 I decided during last year's Spring Break that this year I really wanted to have a true family vacation. I LOVE to go see my family and spend time with my sisters (that's what we did last year), but I felt that we needed to see a bit of Texas before we leave. Since seeing Texas in the Summer is asking for heat stroke, I figured Spring Break is our chance.

Originally I wanted to go to Dallas and spend the whole week exploring the city. Ryan's schedule and lack of funds cut that down to three days. I did a ton of research and looked at a lot of things to do. The number one thing on my list was to go to the zoo. My kids have never been to a zoo. Everyone we talked to said that the zoo we needed to go to was in Fort Worth. Apparently it's way better than Dallas. So, we switched things up.

Ryan took the last half of the week off from the VA. We got the kids up and loaded into the car at 4:30am on Wednesday morning and headed out. The plan was to drive straight to the zoo and have a day full of family fun. That is pretty much how it worked, despite the obstacles. Our first hiccup came when we got the kids settled into the van and the DVD player was not working. OK, well, they can last a 4.5 hour trip, right? They should sleep most of the time anyway, right?  Well, they did pretty good.  They didn't sleep nearly enough, but oh well.

Our second hiccup came when we were about a mile from the zoo and found ourselves in a very long line of cars. We had no idea what was going on but traffic into the zoo was so heavy that they had the Forth Worth police there directing. Surely all these people aren't going to the zoo. There must be something extra going on. Turns out the something extra was half price day at the zoo.

It was very crowded. We pushed on with our plans because the kids were so hyped up and excited. They wouldn't notice all the people anyway. Ryan and I kept our cool in the crowds (I'm the one to worry about) and focused on the kids and having fun with them. Besides waiting in line for over an hour to get some burgers at lunch, it wasn't too bad.

McKenna's favorite animal was the gorilla (same as Ryan). Evan loved the snake exhibit and Alana reacted most to the zebras. She shouted "horse, horse" and wooed the grandma standing next to us. I liked the huge tortoise, myself.  It was pretty amazing to see one that large.

The kids got glitter tattoos (their one extra thing) and were very good about not asking for anything else. I made it very clear from the start that I was not there to buy them toys and candy.

All and all, it was a fantastic trip and I would gladly do it again - just not on half price day.

Enjoy the photos.

You can see the tortoise in the background.

Alana has been doing a crazy eye thing in every photo lately.

Very cool fish tanks.

These two are so cute. Ryan had to sneak a photo.

Ryan took this photo. Surprised?

We forgot to get a family photo. : (